March 07, 2006
BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: MattDD
Today the Blogometer talks to liberal Matt Stoller, who contributes to MyDD. In '05 he ran the official blog for Gov. Jon Corzine's (D-NJ) campaign.
What is your full name?
Matt Stoller
What is your age?
28
Where did you grow up?
Miami, FL
Where do you live now?
DC
What is your occupation? Have you ever worked on a political campaign or for the mainstream media?
I am a full-time blogger in DC. I have worked for both campaigns and in the traditional media.
When did you start blogging and why?
I started in 2002 because I was bored at work and increasingly angry about politics.
What has been your favorite post, or favorite story to write about, in that time?
I enjoyed writing about the conventions.
Describe your typical blogging schedule. And what is your average output?
I write when I have something to say. That often means one or two posts a day, but it could be more or less depending on whether I have anything to add about the political environment.
Who is your favorite political blogger? Favorite non-political blogger?
Political blogger: Digby. Non-political blogger: Go Fug Yourself.
Who is your favorite mainstream media columnist?
Paul Krugman
What is your favorite television news program, either network or cable?
"The Colbert Report"
What MSM-produced websites (i.e. newspapers, magazines) do you visit on a daily basis?
I like the Inside Edge from PoliticsNJ, the Hotline blog, The Fix from the Washington Post.
What non-MSM websites (i.e. blogs) do you visit on a daily basis?
Atrios, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Digby, Political Wire.
How often, or do you ever, read a newspaper in its dead-tree (i.e. print) form?
Once every couple of weeks.
How do you see the new media and old media affecting and influencing each other in the next five years?
Well I'm not sure, because a lot depends on the funding streams. Getting good information is expensive. It just is, ask any scientist. Getting entertaining opinion is cheap. Yet the system compensates based on smooth bland opinionating, and so that's what is prioritized. It would be easy to say that there are two parallel systems, one that is MSM and one that is blogs, and they are fighting or they are complementary. The reality is that this analysis is facile and does not hold up. It's unfair to journalists and bloggers who spend their time digging up good information, and it's unfair to the punditocracy who are left accountable to nothing except cocktail party gossip and a royal courtier mentality.
Ultimately how media develops is a political question, not one of markets or business. As far as I can tell, neither Fox News nor MSNBC is profitable (cash flow positive, possibly, but neither has recouped initial investments). So there's a logic to their existence that goes beyond the 'free market'. There's no accountability there as far as I can tell, and that was true before blogs.
Do Tim Russert and Chris Matthews take massive speaking fees from trade associations? Do journalists/pundits/bloggers still aspire to eschew genuine expertise in favor of appearing on television? Is there a revenue model for local blogging? I don't know the answer to any of these questions. It just seems to me that there's a payola/accountability issue here that is largely unexplored because in one form or another, exploring it threatens the livelihood of those around you. Whether we address these important questions over the next five years will largely determine what happens to both internet and non-internet based media. A media system is only as honest as its moral underpinning and commitment to accountability.
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